At the Library 9/5/24

WPL's Databases Can Help With Your Homework

by Mia Schrock 

    School has started, and so has the homework. I enjoyed my summer free of most school work but now that school is back in full swing, I am already coming home with a full backpack. There goes my easy breezy senior year. Luckily, I have found a way to spend less time stressing over upcoming assignments and tests, and more time enjoying my final year of high school. 

    Brainfuse HelpNow offers live tutoring for so many subjects. There are tutors that will work with you in real time from the hours 2pm-11pm. This is perfect for if you are struggling with your assignment outside of class and can’t get help from your teacher before it needs to be done. Of course, most teachers I’ve had will respond to my emails quickly. It helps to get help in real time. But of course, with my busy schedule balancing school, work, and sports, I end up doing most of my homework late at night. Being able to still get live tutoring until 11pm is so nice because I often don’t have time during the afternoon to work on homework, or if I do it’s a short amount of time and I can only end up doing a few quick problems. And this is not just for high school students. Brainfuse offers tutoring for grade K- College, and even FAFSA assistance. This could have saved me so many hours spent at the kitchen table trying to ask my dad for help with my 5th grade math. Half the time I would end up having to teach him the lesson and show him the problems I already did just to try and get help with one or two harder problems. He would end up just doing the problem “his way” and finding the answer and I would end up in tears because that wasn’t the “right way” to solve the problem. He has since decided that 5th grade is where he can no longer help us with math because he has no idea how to do it the way we were being taught. So, to avoid long hours grueling over math problems that more often than not end up in tears… 

    You can go to the Washington Public Library website, www.washington.lib.ia.us and under Research & Learn, there is a Learning Resources tab where you can find the Brainfuse HelpNow website. There you can ask a professional for help on a question, and they will be able to help you find the right answers, and hopefully not in a confusing way.

At the Library 8/29/24

 

Washington Writers' Workshop Hosting a Variety of Talented Authors!
by LeAnn Kunz

Washington Writers’ Workshop Hosting a Variety of Talented Authors!

Mary Jedlika Humston

    The month of September is a time of beginnings. School starts, there are new sports and new clubs to join. It is also a season of new programs and events at the Washington Public Library. Our Washington Writers’ Workshop is going on its twelfth year and will resume on Saturday, September 14 at 10 am. This free monthly program is for adults and teens who enjoying writing in all genres. We have poets, novel writers, and several folks who are writing their memoirs. A big part of this ongoing program is hosting visiting authors from all over Iowa to work with us. We are fortunate to also have a partnership with the University of Iowa Arts Share who sends writers from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. These visitors spend the first hour of our meetings giving presentations on the craft of writing where we always learn something new. We have found that many of their lessons apply across the board. So even if you see that a poet is coming to present, and you do not write poetry, please don’t think that that session is not for you. Our memoir writers and fiction writers have learned a lot from poets!

    Fortunately, we have had great success with the WWW over the years and the quality of the program has only improved. I am enthused about the newest season which will be kicked off with Mary Jedlicka Humston in September, who visited us some years ago. Humston is a former high school teacher who graduated from UNI with a BA in English Education. She has had several hundred poems and essays published and has presented programs on cancer, chronic illness, prayer, writing, and little free libraries. She co-authored Mary and Me: a Lasting Link Through Ink. Mary will be giving a presentation on the art of letter writing, something that she believes should be preserved and celebrated.

Caleb "The Negro Artist" Rainey 

  In October, we are delighted to bring Caleb “The Negro      Artist” Rainey back to our community to work with the       WWW. He will be giving a workshop on spoken word     poetry, which is his specialty. Rainey is an author,       performer, and producer. He has published two books,   Look, Black Boy and Heart Notes, he has released two   spoken word albums, and produced his first short film,   Willing to Grow.  He is the winner of several poetry slams   across the United States. When he is not writing and   performing he is actively curating a community of spoken   word poets in Iowa City. Rainey is not only going to give a   workshop, he will also be our featured author at the   WPL’s annual Author Fest, occurring the same day.

  

Steven T. Berry

    We also have plans to host Steven T. Berry during April before Washington’s Farm to Film Festival. Berry is an award-winning independent filmmaker and a retired professor from Howard University’s Department of Media, Journalism and
Film and will be working with the WWW on writing for film.
As you can see, we like to try to bring in a wide variety 

of writers to enrich our own writing experiences.

    So, if you have always wanted to write but never actively pursued it, you should join us at the Washington Writers’ Workshops. Email leann.kunz@washington.lib.ia.us to get on the reminder list. You will be allowed to submit written pieces for critique or you can simply attend to learn. Some participants come just to hear our speaker during the first hour. This is a warm and welcoming group of writers and we have built a community who support one another. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

 

At the Library 8/22/24

Back to School: The Grown-Up Edition
by Cary Ann Siegfried

Back to School: The Grown-Up Edition

        

   

    Ah, the back-to-school season. Remember when it was all about picking out the coolest backpack, stocking up on gel pens, and anxiously hoping you’d be in the same homeroom as your best friend? As adults, the lead-up to a new school year feels a bit different, but it still brings that familiar mix of excitement and anxiety—just with a lot more coffee involved.

    Maybe you’re returning to school to finish a degree, starting a new program, or maybe just taking a class (maybe a class in our new MakeIT Place!) to learn something new.  Whatever you’ve decided to tackle this fall, learning something new as an adult can be sometimes daunting, but in the end, always satisfying! There’s also something refreshing about it. It’s like dusting off a part of yourself that you haven’t tapped into in a while.

    One of the biggest challenges as an adult learner is balancing school with everything else. Work doesn’t stop just because you’ve got a paper due, and kids still need help with their own homework even when you’re buried under yours. It can feel overwhelming at times, but there’s also a sense of accomplishment that comes with successfully juggling it all. Plus, you’re setting a pretty awesome example for your kids (or your coworkers, or your friends) about the importance of lifelong learning.  If you need to get away from the distractions, the library has great spaces for quiet study!

    One of the best parts of going back to school as an adult is the community. One of the reasons we wanted to create our new MakeIT Place at the library is to give our community a place to learn and create together.  In August, we’ve started classes within the Pottery Studio and have been certifying users on the Glowforge laser engraver/cutter.  In September look for classes on learning how to use the Recording Studio and also sewing classes for beginners! For those of you who may have your own Cricut at home or who want to learn to use our Cricut equipment, we’ll have opportunities for you to come and ask the Cricut experts for help in making your Cricut dreams come true!

    Check out the MakeIT Place website here:  https://www.washington.lib.ia.us/services/makeit-place.  If you’re a certified user of the equipment (each piece has it’s own process) you can make a reservation online, come to the library and check-in and we’ll get you started learning and creating! Keep an eye on our events calendar for more learning opportunities:  https://www.washington.lib.ia.us/events

    So here’s to all the grown-ups out there who are getting ready to hit the books again. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Embrace the chaos, enjoy your learning journey, and remember—you’re never too old to learn something new. And who knows? You might just discover that back-to-school season is even better the second time around.